At just 20 years old, Prosperity Olorunfemi, a young entrepreneur has already left a significant mark by organizing TEDx Jibowu, a platform designed to prove that age is no barrier to driving change. Driven by a desire to showcase the power of youth, he applied for a grant at 17, only to be rejected due to his age. Undeterred, he launched TEDx Jibowu to bring together young people who have achieved remarkable things, demonstrating that being under 18 doesn’t diminish one’s capability to make a difference. His journey has been filled with challenges and growth, but through it all, he remains grounded in his spirituality, viewing life not through the lens of success but of continuous progress. Despite the attention and fame, he has managed to stay true to his purpose, focusing on education and entrepreneurship as vehicles for societal impact. As he looks to the future, his passion for transforming the educational landscape in Africa is evident, with plans to equip young people with the skills needed to build successful tech startups
Excerpts…
Can we know you?
I am Prosperity Olorunfemi, and I would like to say I’m pretty passionate about driving change in society, mainly through developing young people and building businesses. My journey started as a digital marketer about four years ago, and since then, I’ve been able to work with quite a lot of brands like a Newton Academy, Lagos Business School and GidiAds.
I collaborated with several events and also organized my own. I’ve organized some global events, primarily TEDx events. I’ve done it twice, and our videos have been viewed over 250,000 times on the TEDx YouTube channel. We host people who come and share their experiences on how they have become what they practically have become.
But practically, for me, I like to detach who I am from what I’ve done. So, I’m just very driven by seeing how I can bring change to society and how I can, more or less, grow as well.
I’m continually learning how I can become a person that contributes more to my society. I like driving a lot of initiatives that allow me to maximize my skills as a digital marketer, as well as someone with entrepreneurial thinking, which is the reason why I joined Newton Academy. I’ve tried building a startup of my own called RUMONEY where we trained youth, primarily undergraduates, on digital marketing skills. I decided to join an organization called Newton Academy, where we empower youths as well.
We started with a vision to empower youths with the best quality education and to help them become people who can solve problems globally and access international opportunities. Since then, we’ve learned and evolved to become a platform that empowers recent graduates and secondary school students with in-demand tech and career skills to become global problem solvers, not job hunters. So, I practically spend my days either jumping on meetings with my other team members or, like I said recently, binging on marketing and serious content on LinkedIn.
Now, one of the things we read about you is how you were able to turn 100,000 Naira into millions in six months. Tell us more about this
I would say it wasn’t like I sold out once and just had one million, but I made one million Naira in sales over six months. Back then, it was quite an impressive feat.
But ever since then, I’ve definitely done so much more. When I started out, I started from a place of hunger, not a place of purpose. I was out to make money, get myself a phone, and all of that.
I started a business to sell my AirPods. I reached out to a certain AirPods company back then. I wanted to start selling AirPods online.
And my uncle taught me my first business lesson. He said, “You never buy what you’ve not sold.” That was the principle my uncle taught me. He told me to go and get customers first before he gave me the money.
Coincidentally, around that time, I was learning the copywriting skill. So, as I was learning it, the first thing that came to my mind was implementing and practicing it. First, I got a physical vendor with whom I had an agreement. I could buy the AirPods at a much cheaper price from China, and when they arrived, I would sell them for twice the price to the vendor, who would also sell them to others.
He had the customers—he worked in a company where a lot of young people were present. But beyond that, my uncle was not satisfied, so he asked me for more.
I put my copywriting skills to the test. I started getting people to buy my AirPods online, putting them in a WhatsApp group, and telling them to pay part of it—pay 400 Naira. The AirPods were 4,000 Naira. “Just pay 10%, 400 Naira, to be sure.”
They paid. I sent it to my uncle and said, “Okay, they showed interest and paid,” and he gave me the 100k. I bought the AirPods and brought them in. As soon as they arrived, because of the principle he had taught me, everything that was bought, I just gave it out to them, handled the delivery and all, and then got my money. Then, primarily, I just kept replicating that process.
That was exactly how I got into it. But doing that taught me a lot of lessons. I learned about operations, how to run a business practically, and the nuances of running a business in Nigeria, especially when it comes to handling logistics. I learned how to handle customers. I met a lot of people over the months and years of selling to them, and also how to work with a team. It wasn’t easy at all.
When you crossed that threshold, how did you feel?
Of course, I was childish the first time. It felt like such a big deal for me.
How were you able to balance your school life and business life?
Interestingly, many people don’t know I haven’t been a student ever since. In fact, I just got admitted to school, so I’ll just be going to school now. But around that time, I also attempted to go to school. I thought I got admitted, so I packed my bags and went to that school. I was there for one month, but I didn’t get admitted. I was there for a month and had to come back home. But ever since then, I haven’t really gone to school.
I’ve just been spending my time doing my gap year. So, I just recently decided to go to school, and I just recently got admitted. So, I haven’t had to shuffle school with it, but it’s more or less like I’ve just been focused on work and multiple projects.
You are one of the voices to reckon with on the LinkedIn platform. How were you able to gain such followers?
LinkedIn, for me, was my platform of calling. I met a friend—we used to read books together—and I was following him. He started on LinkedIn and very quickly got 3,000 followers, which was mind-blowing to me. So, he just told me, “Guy, why don’t you start out on LinkedIn?” I started trying to post. It wasn’t working. I was asking for advice, and he guided me. They hacked my account three times.
But eventually, when I got in and started, things started going well. I told you I signed up for a copywriting course. Copywriting means writing sweet words, knowing how to write properly.
So, I explored it quite a bit. When I came to LinkedIn, my writing was quite unique and different. I brought in a storytelling perspective that was not very common back then.
I had the fastest growth, literally. So, I was on everyone’s lips, and I was also a very audacious person. I kept saying words, making a lot of noise. “Oh, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that.”
It attracted a lot of people to me. And very quickly, when I was growing very fast, my viral post on making a million in six months also did some justice in getting me into the spotlight. So, LinkedIn became a platform for my expression. LinkedIn was my platform for my youthful exuberance.
As I was doing it, the kind of exposure and environment I was in got me to start rethinking so many of the things I was doing. It made me start thinking about how I can be better, how I can grow.
I got to a point where it seemed like I was sharing all I knew. It felt like all I was living for was to pour out my knowledge, and I didn’t really know much anymore. I don’t know how to explain it.
But I was like a porous basket. I was empty internally, but I was feeding stuff to the world. So, it made me question if I wanted to continue that way. I was mainly always talking about personal development, marketing, and entrepreneurship. More or less, I was mainly focused on personal development, marketing, and entrepreneurship, and I discovered I was empty.
I needed more, and I’ve always been somewhat globally exposed. From the time I knew the distance I wanted to go, it was very, very, very far. So, I didn’t want to let myself down.
People started pegging me to the limits of the little things around me. Me, who was thinking of going for $1 million, people were pegging me as a 1 million Naira boy. So, I felt so limited and tiny that I knew this wasn’t it anymore. So, the alternative for me was to lock out.
I primarily logged off my social media handles for a month. I went offline. I was reading books, studying biographies, learning more, exposing myself to entrepreneurship, learning more about marketing, and growing.
That was what I literally did, and ever since that break, I would probably come out, show up for a month, and then disappear again. But that kind of life that I lived back then, I was just so focused on using that platform to push myself, talk, and just make all the noise. Then, I decided to change and said, “Okay, what I’m going to focus on now is going to be 90% developing myself and 10% sharing.” So, when I develop myself and get results. I just focused much more on doing things worth sharing than always sharing things that I want to do.
Many people will say, “Prosperity, we are not seeing you,” but I enjoy it. Let me build content, build value in myself. So, when I come out to talk, you will find more value, and people will keep listening.
Was there a target you made for yourself before you turned 20, and have you been able to achieve it now?
Like I told you, when I started out, I was very, very childish. So, let me list them out for you.
Many targets. I said I’d build a billion-dollar company. I said I would get 500,000 followers. I made so many targets, and interestingly, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to hit any of them. But the journey of going on to hit those things has really educated me and empowered me practically. I’ll be 20 this month.
And I have to say that every part of my life has just been very beautiful. I would say the highlight of the past two years for me, the one goal I’ve been able to make a lot of progress with, and that I’m thankful to God for, is the growth in my spiritual life. One of the key factors behind my withdrawal from noise and all has also been to build a true connection with God, away from the noise.
And it has just been so beautiful how much God has helped me around that. So, it is one thing that I’m so happy to have made so much progress with. In fact, more than what I had imagined is practically that side of my life.
What actually inspired you to organize TEDx Jibowu?
TEDx Jibowu happened because I wanted to prove a point—youthful exuberance. So, I applied for a grant. They couldn’t allow me in because I was not 18. So, I decided that I was going to organize an event to make them know that young people can. I decided to use the biggest platform ever, TEDx, to get young people that have done amazing things to come and prove to the world that being younger than 18 doesn’t mean we are not capable of doing great things.
I went with that motive to apply, and thanks be to God, I got rejected. TEDx didn’t give me the license. So, that was also one of the formative moments.
That was coincidentally around the time I was going offline. So, I took the break offline and used it to seek God. I asked, “God, what do you really want me to do with this event? Is it that I’m making mistakes? What is really Your purpose for my life? What’s the plan?” And then I found answers. That was when I discovered that TEDx Jibowu could be a platform for young Africans to come together, to learn, connect, and grow. Very simple, right? We address very, very key topics that guide us to take action on what is going on in our continent. A lot of the time, we just tend to engage in the blame game, but what if we can have this platform where we are inspired, educated, and get the collaborations needed for us to start driving real change? A lot of young people who have attended TEDx Jibowu in the first year and the second year are now driving a lot of initiatives that are empowering many more young people. So, that’s the exact motive of TEDx Jibowu. We bring the speakers together, top speakers who have been known for achieving great things, to come and share key ideas that would inspire and empower young people to take action that can drive change in Africa. That’s literally the picture of TEDx Jibowu.
How was your experience during your first time of public speaking?
I’ve always been a public speaker, although not officially. I can say my first public speaking experience was in secondary school. I attended a public school. My school had probably over a thousand students, and I’ve always been good with words, to be honest with you. Because I knew how to talk, we did this interview where they wanted to choose the senior prefect, and I impressed the teacher. So, they made me the senior prefect, despite all my shortcomings in terms of my height and all of that, and I represented the school for debates and the like. I had to go up on the assembly, inspire my classmates, share ideas, and more.
So, when I came out of school, Lagos State University invited me to one event they held, and I had to speak there. It was quite interesting and new for me, but by the time I rounded up that speaking engagement, I’d already walked around the hall. Since then, I don’t think I’ve had any issues, no matter how large the audience is. It’s just more of something I’m pretty much used to.
How do you manage the fame and attention that come with your success, and has it actually affected your personal life?
I would say it’s two things. The first one is that I don’t view life on the basis of success. I have the philosophy that success is only when the task is accomplished. So, I view life on the basis of progress. We make continual progress, and when we die, all of that progress accumulates to become success. But in terms of me, I would say I don’t make so much progress publicly. Since two years ago, I’ve lived a life that has been outside the internet.
I mean, I do a lot of things that the world doesn’t know about, and it’s only if I don’t have a choice that I let the public know about it.
So, in terms of attention, yes, I do get attention, but in terms of fame, I would say I’ve been able to successfully detach my life from public attention. So, I’m able to do a lot of things.
Back then, when it just started, I would have to go out and wear a nose mask, but now, I’ve been able to live a life where I can go out and definitely meet people who know me, even when I’m going in buses or things like that. They’ll say, “Oh, Prosperity, huge!” and we’ll exchange numbers and things like that.
But it’s not so much or as crazy as it was back then. So, I’m able to live—I can enter public transport any day I want to and go anywhere publicly, conveniently, without any issues. But I would say it has not really influenced my life because I’ve been able to intentionally detach my life from it.
What advice would you give young people who want to actually start a kind of entrepreneurship journey like this, or even a tech journey or anything like that?
I would say all you need primarily to grow in your entrepreneurial or tech ambition or journey is to get started and get started in the right environment. You need the right people who can guide you, and that is what we do at Newton Academy.
There’s a lot of clout these days. Many people say, “Don’t go to school; you can start your own business.” Many people say, “Don’t go to school; become a tech bro.” All of those things. But you really need to be very careful to ensure that you don’t end up making very awful mistakes that will eventually cost you.
Many people start businesses and eventually throw them away. So, start in the right environment. When it comes to entrepreneurship, it’s good for you to learn from experience before you start a business. Pursue experience. Have it at the back of your mind that if you want to run a business, go and build experience. Work with people, be involved in building other successful businesses. Work somewhere, work for somebody, do things for other people, and learn how business works. Learn the regulatory aspect, the operational aspect, and the networking aspect of business.
So when you are going out to build something of your own, you would have something that would help you build. Many people think that you build businesses to make money, but to be honest, you build businesses to solve problems. There are always new problems to solve every single day. So you can’t approach building a business on the basis of just being a newbie. At Newton Academy, we are currently working on a course called Digital Entrepreneurship to guide young people on how to build tech startups.
What should we be expecting from Prosperity in the next few years?
I’ve really been searching in the area of trying to understand what my purpose is, and I would say the dimension in which I’m finding expression is in terms of education. I know I have a tendency or I have potential around things like science, technology, education, and media.
But where I’m finding expression most recently is in terms of education. I’m really, really passionate about transforming the landscape of education, especially in Africa. The major challenge we see in the world now is poor educational outcomes. Imagine, I’m just going to the university now. You wouldn’t expect that I’ll go to the university and end up like everybody who went to the university, but most people end up going to the university, and afterward, they ask themselves, “What next?” and they’re not able to make change or impact in society. So it’s something I’m very focused on.
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The spotlight is an initiative of Rubies Technologies to showcase and promote talented young people who are doing exceptional well in tech or related field. If you know someone that can be spolighted, kindly send mail to olalekan@rubiestech.org
